Labour Spokesman chides PAM and its paper for politicising crime

Nov 29, 2010

PAM Political Leader Mr. Lindsay Grant

ST. KITTS, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 (CUOPM) – Because crime poses such a great threat to the stability of a country’s economy and a danger to the peace and unity of communities, it must be confronted with unrelenting force.

“Equally important is that parents, guardians, the churches and the schools and all and sundry in the country assume the noble responsibility of instilling a sense of morals and ethics in our children, not only by instruction but by example,” so says this weekend’s editorial of the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Spokesman.

The pro-government paper said that as sinister as crime is, there is something that can be judged just as sinister, and that is the politicization of crime. Playing politics with crime does not redound to the advantage of anyone but only seeks to polarize a country more than it already is. Polarization is gang mentality.

“It is ironic that almost every time a criminal activity takes place in the country, Leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), Lindsay Grant, takes to the airwaves or uses his pen to lament. The evidence would suggest that Grant is playing politics with crime. He seems to be more concerned with attaining political mileage and increased voter support rather than concretely addressing the crime situation,” said the paper’s editorial. According to the paper nothing speaks more to this than an article posted on SKNVibes in the wake of the unfortunate hold-up and robbery of a tour bus carrying 17 tourist in Sandy Point.

It said that the article can at best be described as hypocritical and at worst sarcastic as posted on November 15, 2010 and headlined ‘St. Kitts opposition party leader saddened by recent robbery of 17 tourists, Assures visitors that St. Kitts a safe place to visit,’ the article gave the appearance in its opening paragraphs that Grant was very concerned about the robbery of the tourists and that he wanted to assure visitors that St. Kitts was still a safe place to visit.

“But, any intelligent person reading the article would realise that the author had a sinister agenda. The author really wanted to portray St. Kitts as a crime-infested country, where the government was incapable of controlling crime. Grant is quoted in the article as saying that he had every confidence in the police to bring the perpetrators to justice and that St. Kitts was a still a safe place to visit,” the paper contended.

“How can one reconcile this statement with chronologically highlighting crime over the past 10 years and saying that the government was inefficient? By doing such was Grant really sincere in inviting visitors to the shores of the federation? The answer to that is no. The article’s headline alone starkly contradicts its contents. The intention of the author was that of playing politics,” said the paper.

The Labour Spokesman declared that this modus operandi characterizes the PAM as seeing crime simply as a political issue and one that they can use to score cheap political points.

The paper pointed to a demonstration in New York one year ago in which senior officials and supporters of the People’s Action Movement were giving out flyers to potential visitors to St. Kitts to try and dissuade them from visiting.

“They were trying to take bread out of the mouths of the citizens of this country by this anti-patriotic act,” said the Spokesman, which also pointed to a recent picture on the front page of the PAM mouthpiece, “The Democrat” showing a terrorist pointing a gun next to a cruise liner in highlighting the robbery of the 17 tourists.

“It is clear that this was a calculated and malicious assault on the tourist industry of this country. Was such a photo plastered on the front page of the Democrat designed to lure tourists to our beautiful country? No!” said the editorial.

“It is time that the PAM stop and think about the blind politics that they are involved in.

Crime should not be politicized. We continue to bemoan the robbery of the tourists. It was not only a crime against our tourism-based economy but it was a crime against hospitality. Kittitians and Nevisians are hospitable people. Every effort would be made to ensure the safety of our visitors who are dear to all of us,” the Labour Spokesman editorial concluded.